Apparatus for packaging yarn



June 27, 1967 c. J. RUSSO ETAL 3,327,368

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN Filed May 11, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTOPNE Y June 27, 1987 c. .1. RUSSO ETAL 3,327,363

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN Filed May 11, 1964 5 Sheets-Shea? 2 INVENTORS 0}- 04m J @0550 WA RT. SHAW K BY 0: 0 f? V r v WA E VY N June 27, 1967 c. J. RUSSO ETAL 3,327,368

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN Filed May 11, 1964 5 Shets-Sheef 3 I/ fi m-m 27- 3O mum" 4 INVENTORS CARL E WA E! H BY ATTO'EIVEY June 27, 1967 c. J. RUSSO ETAL 3,327,368

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN Filed May 11, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 A y 3/ 3 -t 73 I 7 I I 306755 76 I 72 INVENTORS 01/?4 I fiu A TTOIP/VEY June 1957 c. J. Russo ETAL 3,327,353

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN A 83 H l (A194 J. v5.50 EWART H. A

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,327,368 APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN Carl J. Russo, Chatham, Wilmington, and Ewart H. Shattuck, Wycliif, Wilmington, Del., assignors to Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co., Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 11, 1964, Ser. No. 366,576 Claims. (Cl. 28-21) This invention relates to apparatus for packaging yarn and more particularly to apparatus for laying a yarn in a series of overlapped loops around a core tube to build up a package in which the yarn is held in substantially tensionless state.

An object is to provide an apparatus of the above type having novel and improved characteristics.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of the above type in which the yarn is held mechanically in loop form while being positioned for packaging.

Another object is to provide an apparatus which is adapted for packaging yarns of extremely small denier.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

In accordance with the present invention the apparatus includes a cylinder around which the yarn is wrapped and fed axially inthe form of a succession of loops until discharged from the lower end of the cylinder onto a feeding station from which it is fed in a succession of overlapped loops onto a rotating disc to build up an annular package around a central core. Mechanism is provided for rotating a yarn feed tube continously around the cylinder and for preventing rotation of the cylinder as the yarn is wrapped therearound. A ratchet feed means or a belt drive is carried by the cylinder to feed the yarn loops axially therealong to the discharge end of the cylinder.

The nature of the invention will be better understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which specific embodi ments have been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section illustrating an apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 but on a reduced scale;

FIG. 3 is a detail view of a feed rack on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a partial section, similar to FIG. 1 showing the parts on a larger scale;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is. a partial vertical section, similar to FIG. 1 showing the formed package;

FIG. 7 is a detail section taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. .8 is a detail section showing the cam for actuating the feed racks;

FIG. 9 is a plan section taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 4 showing the driving gears;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the gear train of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a detailed perspective of a modified form of helical ring;

FIG. 12 is a partial section similar to FIG. 4 showing a modified form of cylinder; and

ice

FIG. 13 is a horizontal section taken on the line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, the invention is shown as embodied in an apparatus comprising a base plate 10 carrying bearings 11 in which is journalled a shaft 12 carrying a disc 13 and having a sprocket 14 driven by a chain 15 from a suitable source of power not shown. The disc 13 carries a pair of spaced posts 17 on which a plate 18 is slidably mounted and has a hub 19 on which a removable core tube 20 is seated. The core tube 20 is perforated for passage of the fluid for treating the package to be formed thereon and carries an extension 21 which is removable after the package has been formed. The plate 18 carries a package support disc 22 and is held in upward position by springs 23 disposed around the posts 17. Ears 24 are removably mounted on the posts 17, and carry an annular flange 27 which, with the core tube extension 21 form an annular space 28 within which the package is to be formed.

A helical ring 30 is disposed in the annular space 28 and is supported from a bracket 31 by a post 32. The ring 30 is formed at its trailing end with fingers 33 on which the yarn loops are to be laid and which, due to the helical shape of the ring 30 are spaced below the leading end 37 of the ring to provide an opening 38 through which the yarn loops are to be fed onto the package. The package support disc 22 is shown as having projections 39 which are adapted to engage and pull the loops from the fingers 33 at the beginning of the packaging operation after which the loops are withdrawn in overlapping layers as the package wipes along the under side of the fingers 33. Pressure is transmitted from the under surface of the helical ring against the successive layers of yarn loops forcing the plate 22 down against the pressure of the spring 23. A head comprising an annular wall 40 is journalled on bearing 41 in the upper part of the bracket 31. The upper end of a cylinder 43 is mounted on the inner race of bearing 44 the outer race of which is carried by the annular wall 40. The cylinder 43 extends downwardly with its lower end 47 disposed directly above the fingers 33 for dropping the yarn loops thereon. A yarn tube 50 is carried by the wall 40. This tube terminates near the upper end of the cylinder 43 so as to feed the yarn around the cylinder as the tube 50 advances therearound. The yarn tube 50 is provided with a bushing 51 on which rotates a planetary gear 52 meshing with a gear 53 mounted on and above the cylinder 43. The gear 52 extends through a slot 54 in the wall 40 and meshes with internal teeth 55 of a ring gear 58 which is journalled to rotate around the wall 40 on bearing 59 and carries external teeth 60. A drive shaft 61 journalled in the bracket 31 and driven by a belt drive 61a which in turn is driven by a suitable motor carries a gear 62 meshing with external gear 63 carried by the wall 40 and a gear 64 meshing with the external teeth on the ring gear 58.

In operation the head is rotated at a predetermined rate by the meshing gears 62 and 63. The cylinder 43 is driven in the reverse direction in respect to the head through the gear train formed by the driving gear 64, the ring gear 58, the planetary gear 52 and the cylinder gear 53 at a rate such that the cylinder 43 remains stationary without rotation. In this way the yarn tube 50 advances around the cylinder 43 with the wall 40 of the head so that the yarn is wound in successive turns on the cylinder.

For advancing the yarn loops axially of the cylinder 43 the periphery of the cylinder is provided with a series of T shaped slots 70 in each of which racks 71 having downwardly inclined rachet teeth 72 are slidably mounted. The racks 71 carry transverse pins 73 at their upper ends which extend into circular slots 74 in the cylinder wall into engagement with springs 75 which are disposed in suitable recesses in the cylinder and tend to hold the racks 71 in their uppermost positions. The pins 73 also extend radially outwardly to be engaged and actuated by a cam surface 76 on the wall 40. The cam surface 76 is shaped to engage and depress the pins gradually and in succession as the head rotates around the cylinder and to release the pins 73 suddenly so that they snap back to their upper positions under the pressure of the springs 75.

The arrangement is such that the reciprocation of the feed racks 71 serves to advance the yarn loops axially to the lower end 47 of the cylinder 43 from which they drop onto the fingers 33.

The yarn 80 is fed from a cop (not shown) which is mounted on the bracket 31, through an eye 82 and into the yarn tube 50 by which the yarn is laid in the form of loops 83 around the cylinder 43 and the racks 71. The loops 83 are advanced by the racks 71 and dropped onto the fingers 33 from which they are drawn through the opening 38 onto the disc 22 or onto the preceding layer of loops on the package 84.

Bracket 31 which carries head 40, cylinder 43, and helical ring 30 is lifted up and shifted to provide clearance and a top disc 85 is placed over the package 84 and pressed downwardly to compress the yarn at least to the height of the core tube 20 to which the disc 85 is then secured by a latch 86.

The extension 21 is then lifted off core tube 20 and the package together with the support disc 22 and core tube 20 can then be removed from the plate 18 for subsequent processing in the usual manner.

FIG. 11 shows a modified form of plate which may be used in place of the plate 30 to compact and guide the yarn loops as they are laid on the package. This plate of FIG. 11 comprises a set of coned rollers 115 which are journalled in an inner flange 116 and an outer flange 117. The leading roller 115a is disposed to engage and compact the yarn loops as they are fed from the cylinder 43. The loops then advance along and under the ring of rollers and are compacted by the successive rollers as they advance. The ring of rollers is disposed helically in a manner similar to the plate 30 so as to conform to the helical arrangement of the layers ofloops as they are laid on the package. The pitch of the helix would obviously depend on the thickness of the yarn layer which is being laid ,on the package and in some instances, particularly when the yarn layer is thin, the rollers may all be disposed in the same plane. The trailing roller 11512 is spaced from the leading roller 115a to provide an area through which the yarn loops are laid onto the rotating package.

In this embodiment the rollers 115 compress the yarn package with a compacting force while introducing a minimum of friction or drag at the upper surface of the package. This embodiment is particularly advantageous in cases where the yarn loops drop off of the cylinder in the form of a sleeve or sock rather than as separated loops. Obviously, this embodiment could be combined with the fixed helical plate shown in FIGS. 1-10 by providing one or more rollers to engage the yarn loops in advance of the leading end of the plate. 1

In the embodiment of FIGS. 12 and 13, the head and cylinder are arranged and driven as in the first embodiment and the corresponding parts have been given the same reference numbers. However, in place of the reciprocating racks on the cylinder 43 of the first form the second embodiment shows a series of conveyor belts disposed on the cylinder and adapted to advance the yarn loops to the end of the cylinder. More specifically, the cylinder 90 of FIGS. 12 and 13 is formed in two halves for constructional reasons. Each half is formed with a pair of slots 91 which extend through the cylinder along a chord and extend axially substantially the entire length of the cylinder. These slots 91 form an inner wall 93 and an outer wall 94 in each cylinder half. A pair of upper shafts 97 extend transversely across both cylinder halves with their ends journalled in inner wall 93 and outer wall 94. Belt pulleys 98 are mounted on these transverse shafts 97 in the slots 91 and carry belts 99 having edges 100 which extend outwardly through said slots and beyond the periphery of said cylinder. Lower shafts 101 are mounted in the lower ends of the cylinder parts at the lower ends of the slots 91 and carry belt pulleys 102 which support the lower ends of the belts 99. The upper shafts 97 carry centrally disposed spiral gears 103 in recesses 104 in the top of the cylinder. The two spiral gears 103 engage opposite sides of a spiral gear 105 mounted on a shaft 106 which extends upwardly through a hub 107 of the cylinder gear 53 and is connected at the top by an arm 108 to the yarn tube 50 and has a bearing 109 in which said tube 50 is journalled. In this way the spiral gears 103 and 105 are driven by the rotation of the yarn tube 50 around the cylinder 90.

The lower end of the cylinder 90 is tapered so as to drop the yarn loops freely onto a conveyor belt 110 which advances to a discharge point or onto the fingers 33 of FIG. 1. Spray nozzles 111 are disposed to spray a treating liquid such as a setting or relaxing agent or a dye and the belt may be disposed to feed the yarn loops through a setting zone prior to discharging the loops onto the fingers 33 for packaging.

In this embodiment the yarn is wound around the cylinder in successive loops by the rotatingyarn tube 50 and is advanced axially to the discharge end of the cylinder by the protruding edges 100 of the belts 99 which are driven in a downward direction by the worm drive above described. The loops may, of course, be laid directly on the fingers 33 as in the first form or conversely the cylinder 43 of FIGS. 1 to 10 maybe disposed to discharge the yarn loops onto the belt for processing prior to discharge onto the fingers 33.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for packaging yarn comprising a rotatable head, a cylinder journalled for rotation in said head, a yarn guide carried by said head in a position to rotate around the periphery of said cylinder as said head is rotated, means rotating said head and means including a gear train connected to drive said cylinder rearwardly with respect to the rotation of said head at a rate to maintain said cylinder stationary whereby the yarn is wrapped around said cylinder in a series of loops as said head is rotated, and means carried by said cylinder to cause said loops of yarn to advance axially along said cylinder and to be discharged from the end of said cylinder, said last means comprising a set of racks spaced around the periphery of said cylinder and slidable axially thereof and having teeth adapted to engage said yarn loops and means to reciprocate said racks as the head rotates around said cylinder.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which said racks are reciprocated in sequence as the head rotates around said cylinder.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which said last means includes a cam surface carried by said head and cam followers carried by said racks to be engaged thereby.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which. said teeth are inclined in the direction of feed of said loops.

5. Apparatus for packaging yarn comprising a rotatable head, a cylinder journalled for rotation in said head, a yarn guide carried by said head in a position to rotate around the periphery of said cylinder as said head is rotated, means rotating said head and means including a gear train connected to drive said cylinder rearwardly with respect to the rotation of said head at a rate to maintain said cylinder stationary whereby the yarn is wrapped around said cylinder in a series of loops as said head is rotated, and means carried by said cylinder to cause said loops of yarn to advance axially along said cylinder and to be discharged from the end of said cylinder, said last means comprising a series of conveyor belts spaced around the periphery of said cylinder and disposed in axially extending recesses therein with .an edge portion of each of said belt protruding beyond the surface of said cylinder to be engaged by said loops, and means to feed said belts axially as said head rotates around said cylinder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. 10 L. K. RIMRODT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING YARN COMPRISING A ROTATABLE HEAD, A CYLINDER JOURNALLED FOR ROTATION IN SAID HEAD, A YARN GUIDE CARRIED BY SAID HEAD IN A POSITION TO ROTATE AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID CYLINDER AS SAID HEAD IS ROTATED, MEANS ROTATING SAID HEAD AND MEANS INCLUDING A GEAR TRAIN CONNECTED TO DRIVE SAID CYLINDER REARWARDLY WITH RESPECT TO THE ROTATION OF SAID HEAD AT A RATE TO 